Ben Wicks was born in 1926 in London, England. His parents were of the working class. His father and his mother, a typesetter and a cleaning woman, were both employed at The Mirror newspaper. After London was bombed during WWII, the young Cockney-accented young man quit school, jumping into work. His first job was as a shipping clerk at 14 years old. *(1)
The future held a number of jobs for Ben, a small, wiry man with lots of charm and spunk: window cleaner, janitor, purse maker, electrician's helper, clog maker and many others. He and his wife, Doreen, emigrated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1957 with only $25 to their names. While she worked as a nurse, he worked for a short time as a milkman, then joined the Canadian army, serving as a musician for three years. Earlier, Ben had taken a not-so-successful evening art school course. Apparently, he had trouble with drawing; he was told that he should give up art and find something different. *(2)
Not one to easily surrender a good idea, Ben gave cartooning a shot when he was nearing the end of his military duty. He studied the techniques of drawing and of marketing his work, and sent off his initial efforts to the Saturday Evening Post. The prominent magazine must have recognized his talent immediately - they were interested in purchasing three of his cartoons. Their only stipulation was that they did not buy the art of an unknown source and needed references. Ben complied, but not in the fashion the magazine would want. As noted on regionalmapleleaf.com, he took "about five minutes to fake some letters of reference." His career as an outstanding cartoonist had begun.
With little kids in tow, the Wicks family moved to Toronto in 1963 to enable Ben to accept a job with the Toronto Telegram. His cartooning blossomed. He developed a comic strip entitled "The Outcasts" that appeared in 52 Canadian newspapers, and cartoon panels that ran in almost 200 newspapers internationally. Ben's popular style was distinctly recognizable, and his sense of humour as unique and funny as the man himself.
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